Kim Gale  |  February 19, 2020

Category: E-Cigarette

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Woman vapes with neon lighting in backgroundWith one out of five American high school students vaping, doctors are concerned about the effects of e-cigarettes and heart disease, lung health and brain development.

Doctors at Children’s Hospital Colorado spoke with CPR.org about their concerns, particularly because more teens vape in the Centennial State than in any other.

Dr. Robin Deterding is the medical director of the Breathing Institute and chief of Pediatric Pulmonary Medicine at Children’s Hospital Colorado.

“You’re inhaling a chemistry experiment, and that’s bad for your lungs,” Dr. Deterding told CPR.org.

She said even second-hand vaping clouds are believed to worsen asthma. That’s because a number of toxins are breathed in by the person vaping, who then breathes out a vapor cloud, just as smokers breathe in smoke and anyone nearby inhales secondhand smoke.

Even though e-cigarettes don’t contain tobacco or tar, which are found in cigarettes, e-cigarettes do contain the addictive ingredient nicotine. As nicotine enters the brain, dopamine levels increase, causing the person to experience a pleasurable feeling.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse says that even though nicotine is not considered a carcinogen, the substance might “prime the brain to become addicted to other substances.”

This “priming” of the brain is more pronounced in young people because their brains are continuing to develop until about age 25.

“When you think about 10 percent of middle schoolers and 30 percent of high schoolers (who regularly use e-cigarettes), that’s a fair number of kids that need help now. I think it’s a public health emergency,” Dr. Steve Daniels, pediatrician-in-chief at Children’s Hospital Colorado and chair of the CU Anschutz Medical Campus’ pediatrics department, told CPR.org.

E-Cigarettes and Heart Disease

Nicotine increases blood pressure, respiration and heart rate. Studies have found higher nicotine levels in many vaping juices compared to that found in traditional cigarettes, which are known to increase the risks of heart disease and lung cancer.

In November, research from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles was unveiled at the American Heart Association’s scientific conference. Researchers compared the heart activity of 10 non-smokers, 10 tobacco smokers and 10 e-cigarette smokers. All the study participants were under 40 years old and had no health issues.

When asked to participate in mild exercise, the blood flow responded by increasing in the hearts of the non-smokers. The tobacco smokers experienced a lesser increase of blood flow to the heart, but the e-cigarette users showed no increased blood flow to the heart.

“This suggests e-cigarettes cause an abnormality that impedes blood flow regulation in the heart,” Dr. Florian Rader told Time.com.

Dr. Rader co-authored the study and is a heart specialist at Cedars-Sinai Smidt Heart Institute.

While the study was small, the implications could be huge, based on the Office of the Surgeon General’s report that smoking is a cause of one out of four heart disease deaths and one out of three cancer deaths in the U.S. every year.

Dr. Rader’s study was one of the first to focus on a potential link between e-cigarettes and heart disease, but Time noted that observational studies have indicated consumers who vape may be at a greater risk of a heart attack.

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If you or a loved one developed heart or lung problems after using e-cigarettes containing nicotine and/or THC, you may qualify to join this e-cigarette lung injury lawsuit investigation.Learn more by filling out the form on this page for a free case evaluation by a JUUL e-cigarette injury lawyer.

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